The Complex Issues Surrounding The Agriculture Street Landfill

In Mantua Township, Gloucester County, New Jersey, privately owned land once stood as one of the most hazardous waste sites in the United States. This site known as the Helen Kramer Landfill included 66-acres of waste, 11 acres of unfavorably conditioned vegetation, and no onsite residents. Prior to the early 1960’s, Helen Keller landfill was a sand and gravel excavation operation, but soon began to incorporate the disposal of waste material for about a decade. After the landfill received numerous inspections and notices between 1971 and 1977, the owner Helen Kramer was informed to cease operation of the landfill. As New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection reports indicated and area residents stated, “sporadic chemical

In the latest iteration of its approaches to getting housing aid to people displaced by Hurricane Katrina, FEMA has shifted its strategy from doling out incremental portions of housing assistance to cutting checks for up to the statutorily allowable amount of $26,200 per household for approximately 60,000 households whose homes FEMA has determined can be declared destroyed without need for inspection. Households whose homes are in certain ZIP codes in five parishes in Louisiana and three counties in Mississippi that satellite imaging show complete devastation are slated to start receiving checks for the remainder of their allowable ¡§individual household assistance¡¨ after deducting the $2,000 and/or $2,358 allotments some have already received. Homeowners will receive the full $26,200 and renters something less. Why there is a difference in aid between homeowners and renters was not explained.

Eighty percent of the city’s housing stock had been flooded, and sitting under this water for multiple days. Rivlin follows former mayor, Ray Nagin to show how disastrous and difficult it was to restore the housing and businesses of New Orleans. In a few pages, you can see the incompetence of public officials and how the damage from the hurricane was extremely hard to repair due to poor decision making. While the FEMA trailers are gone and a $14.5 billion food-protection system is in place 10 years later, there are still houses and businesses that were destroyed that have been untouched. Alden McDonald, president of the city’s oldest black-owned bank, says, “…the untouched destruction creates the illusion the floodwaters poured in just yesterday. There's still so much to be

10 Years ago on the last week in August, one of the most brutal storms the United States has ever had hit Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. On August 28th and 29th, Fifty-five-foot waves crashed down the Mississippi coast leaving total destruction behind. In New Orleans a levee was built to protect the city but failed in 50 different places due to it being poorly designed. FEMA brought many survivors to their camps, but some weren’t that lucky. In New Orleans about 20,000 residents were trapped in the Louisiana Superdome without clean water, medical care, or working toilets. After the floodwaters receded, over 100,000 residents left the city of New Orleans to never return. 10 years later after the hurricane, most of the affected

Katrina hit New Orleans, Louisiana on August 29th, 2005, but the failure of the local government started before this day “by allowing building and growing in areas in low flood lands.” The local government did not regulate these land areas that have always

Day by day, New Orleans slowly builds up the economy, the houses, and the people it had destroyed. No matter how much is rebuilt and regained, nothing will ever compare to the day Hurricane Katrina hit and destroyed the lives of thousands. Nothing will ever be replaced—it is only

On August 29, 2005, one of the largest hurricanes ever recorded hit the city of New Orleans, devastating millions and changing their lives and their city forever. The category 3 hurricane created mass displacement and mass destruction that the city has yet to fully recover from. The residents of this once lively and culture-filled city are still attempting to rebuild what was washed away for them ten years ago.

On August 29th of 2005, a category 3 hurricane, dubbed Hurricane Katrina, hit the Gulf Coast of the United States. It brought winds of 100 to 140 miles per hour, and stretched more than 400 miles across. New Orleans had its first mandatory evacuation ordered the day before, while listing the Superdome as a shelter for those who couldn’t leave town. More than 70 percent evacuated, while the rest stayed at their homes, or took to shelters, to wait out the storm. The aftermath of Katrina was felt in Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi, but New Orleans was affected the most by far. In the end, more than 2000 were either seriously injured or killed, while those who survived were very short on food, water, first aid, and had very few areas for shelter. A large reason the storm was so devastating was the fact that the storm was able to cover almost 80 percent of the entire city under a large amount of water. Before the storm hit, the city used levee systems and flood walls to protect itself from being flooded. During the storm, however, many failures in the levee system caused close to 80 percent of the flooding covering the city and the nearby parish. Many know that the levee system failed but few in the public know that the major reason it had failed was because of the incomplete design. The disaster

Most neighborhoods in New Orleans have returned to their original population with some neighborhoods actually growing in size. The U.S. Census Bureau states that New Orleans has grown by 12 percent between 2010 and 2014. Unfortunately, not all of the cities have grown equally, cities along the Mississippi have grown on average 300% where cities near the French Quarter have only grown about 0.1% since Katrina. Since the storm, the increase in population is not the only thing that has changed. The majority race of New Orleans is making a shift before African American’s were the clear majority but post-Katrina that's not the case. Whites now represent a larger part of New Orleans than before Katrina. The population of both African Americans and Whites decreased after Katrina but more Whites returned

Their were storm shelters open to these people that had no other option. “It is estimated that around 1.2 million people evacuated the metropolitan New Orleans region and that about 100,000 people remained in New Orleans. Of those remaining, around 10,000 went to the Superdome shelter before the storm”(Hurricane Science). Due to their being so many people left behind, their were also a huge number in deaths from this tragic disaster. “Overall, more than 1,800 people lost their lives as a result of Hurricane Katrina. More than 1,500 death occurred in Louisiana”(Hurricane Science). This huge devastation affected many lives, not only in Louisiana but also Mississippi and Florida. People were shocked at how fast the water was rising and the weather conditions worsening. “Katrina is the third deadliest hurricane in U.S. history. In New Orleans, people were trapped in their houses and on their roofs as the rapidly rising water caught many people by surprise. The flooding and widespread damage from Katrina delayed rescue and aid efforts for days. Besides the death toll, hurricane Katrina left many people homeless as more than 800,000 housing units were destroyed or damaged in the storm”(Hurricane Science). Being one of the deadliest hurricanes in our history, Hurricane Katrina changed many

Hurricane Katrina will forever remain as one of the most devastating natural disasters to have taken place on American soil. On August 27th, 2005, more than a day before Katrina made its way to New Orleans, President Bush, at the request of Louisiana state Governor Kathleen declared a state of emergency to both Louisiana and Mississippi. In doing so, these areas were considered major disaster areas that the federal government would concentrate most of its resources. Despite a declared emergency and the need to evacuate the city immediately, many residents decided to stay in their homes and shelter in place for various reasons, while others left the city as suggested or seek refuge at the state’s designated last resort shelter, The Superdome.

Throughout the history United States have suffered many natural disasters but Hurricane Katrina is considered to be the most expensive natural disaster that occurred in the history of the United States. The costliness of the event includes damages that are done to property as well as the resources required for the aid and recovery of those who were considered victims or ‘refugees’. There are many criticisms that surfaced up after the disaster hit that targeted many aspects of how the tragedy was handled, particularly by the government and other agencies that are responsible. One of the major problems that surfaced up post-Katrina is the quality of assistance that residents had when the hurricane was over. To be specific, certain criticisms

In Hilda E. Kurtz’s document, Environmental Justice, Citizen Participation and Hurricane Katrina, the effects of natural disasters on low income areas are discussed. Although these areas are the target of the document, it also touches base on the effects these disasters may have on higher income areas. Environmental justice (EJ) is stated to have been originated in the social relations of the southeastern United States. This emerged from a convergence of environmental and civil rights activists in the 1980s. Environmental justice was brought up due to incidents such as hazardous waste facilities being located mainly in communities of color and low income. The government found three of the nation’s four largest landfills were located predominantly

Evidence: Eighty percent of the fresh water that we consume is used to grow food. Yet we end up throwing nearly half of that food away. "When you throw out a burger, that's the equivalent of taking a 90-minute shower, "says Dana Gunders from the Natural Resources Defense Council. "Throwing out an apple is like taking a seven-minute shower

Early in the morning on August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast of the United States. The storm itself did a great deal of damage, but its aftermath was catastrophic. Levee breaches led to massive flooding, and many people charged that the federal government was slow to meet the needs of the people affected by the storm. Hundreds of thousands of people in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama were displaced from their homes, and experts estimate that Katrina caused more than $150 billion in damage.[1]